DannyMay 2017 Challenge
by PandoraAbyss
Summary: Oneshots following the prompts of the DannyMay challenge. Each oneshot has their own separate story. They may or may not be connected.
1. Hope

**This oneshot is part of DannyMay 2017.**

 **Day 1: Hope/Hatred**

 **Summary: It's been three years since Danny's sudden disappearance. On the anniversary, Sam visits the lab.**

* * *

A dark-haired girl with short, bob hair climbed down the stairs to the old Fenton laboratory. She left her jacket upstairs, leaving her in a dark purple crop top and jeans. Upstairs, she could hear the bustle of conversation, too somber for her, who's heart was numb and angry.

The anniversary Danny's disappearance was today, after three years.

The nineteen-year-old grimaced as she looked around the old boxes and dusty supplies that littered the laboratory, untouched after the Fentons packed them up about a few months after Danny's appearance. They blamed ghosts once they realized he wouldn't be turning up; and while it was probably half true, neither her, Tucker nor Jazz could tell their parents the truth. If they knew…they probably would have kept on looking. And the four of them agreed to each other that it was probably useless by now.

Sam sighed and opened a box, and let out a hollow, sad laugh as she saw it was their old tools. From back in the days when they all worked together with Danny, back when he was still trying to get a handle on his powers and they were all acting like it wasn't as big of a deal as it really was. (Their friend was technically _dead_ after all – and it hadn't really sunk in for _years_. Yet they still acted as if everything was completely fine)

She picked up the Fenton Thermos first – it was nearly glued shut and was covered in dust and seemed to be rusting over a bit. It couldn't even turn on.

Well, that's what happens when you leave half-working inventions alone for three years.

She placed the thermos down beside her and began shifting through the small machines, near laughing, and near crying, as memories surfaced.

Then she found the boomerang.

Oh god, this thing. This _annoying_ thing. After a while of getting hit by it over and over for a few years, it had practically locked onto Danny's Ghost Signal (or Signature, whatever they had decided to call it back then). During the first week of Danny's disappearance, they had tried using it but, strangely enough, it hadn't worked. No matter how much they had tried.

But…

Sam looked down at the old invention, before looking at the even _older_ invention – the Ghost Portal. They had thrown the damn thing through the portal so many times, only for it to get spat right back out.

She vaguely remembered Jazz mentioning how Danny might not want to be found – and that's why the boomerang just kept coming back as soon as it was thrown. It was that sudden thought that had caused their group to lose hope.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she pressed one of the buttons, and watched as the portal slowly slid open and began to glow a light green.

It was like three years hadn't passed.

She bit her lip. She glanced at the Spector Speeder, which looked just as old and broken down as everything else in this lab. Still, she found herself climbing in.

 _This won't work._ A part of herself whispered. _You're going to throw it in, and it's going to spit right back out. And you're going to feel stupid. Then you're going to walk back upstairs and act like nothing happened._

Even so, she found herself throwing the boomerang in.

She watched as it disappeared smoothly into the green light.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she counted the seconds – to see if it could come back.

Five seconds passed.

Then ten.

Then fifteen – and still nothing.

She gasped and quickly turned the speeder on because god, the hope that erupted in her was more than she's felt for three tears. Without hesitating, she drove right into the portal. In the distance, she could see the boomerang, still going, still moving.

 _Towards Danny._

She sped after it, her eyebrows furrowed in determination; purple eyes steeled.

She was going to _find him_.

The boomerang went on for a long time – travelling far past the places Sam could remember visiting before. Maybe her knowledge of the ghost zone was getting dim, but it seemed like it had… _changed_. It seemed almost colder, _quieter_. Ghosts noticed her but they avoided her, as if they were bored with her presence.

"What the hell happened here?" She muttered. The last time she had visited it was with Tucker and Jazz, and they had to use the weapons the Fentons had made to keep ghosts away from them as they searched.

The boomerang travelled on. She continued to follow. It got colder the further she went and she noticed far less ghosts. She rubbed her shoulders, bunching up slightly in her chair, and suddenly she wished that outside the ghost zone it wasn't spring and she wasn't wearing a crop top.

Then, in the distance, she could see it – a castle. Not just any castle, she was fairly sure (from the notes Danny had left behind in his room) that it was the castle of the Ghost King. But it wasn't _right_. It was too…cold. She was pretty sure the white sheets on the towers were _frost._

The boomerang slipped through one of the windows – was Danny hiding in there?

A thought hit her that made her stomach drop – was Danny… _captured_? Was he being held captive here, for three years?

With a glare, she headed right for the tower, closing her eyes as the speeder went right through the wall.

When she opened her eyes, she expected a cell, or some form of prison.

But no, it wasn't…not really.

In fact, the room she found herself in was extravagant – beautiful, despite how incredibly cold it was. It reminded her of pictures of the room of royalty – with a large bed, closet, and table…

And at the window the boomerang had come through stood a person, with their back to her.

The person couldn't be any older than 16 or 17. Their white hair was short and they had on a crown…well, not _exactly._ The crown seemed to be floating just above their head, glowing a faint green. The person was missing their left arm, which seemed to be frozen over as some sort of prosthetic. That same arm was holding the boomerang that had gone through the window. They turned – and one eye glowing green and another glowing blue met her purple ones.

"… _Sam?"_

She let out an audible gasp, tears forming in her eyes as she realized who it was. She slowly climbed out of the Speeder, the boy was shorter than her – and she realized…he hasn't aged. Not even a day since when he disappeared.

The boy smiled. It was sad, and she found her arms filled with a ghost child. His voice was _different_ now, echoing throughout the room as if it wasn't really coming from his mouth…

" _Sam…I missed you so much."_ His voice echoed around her, near crying.

"…Danny…" She held back her own sob as she hugged him close, ignoring how she was practically freezing in his touch.

For the first time in three years, she felt hopeful again.


	2. Ice

**Day 2: _Ice/_ Fire**

 **Summary: An alternate way for Danny to learn he has Ice Powers.**

* * *

 _Cold_.

He was always so, so cold.

It was hard, being alive but dead at the same time. It seemed like he could never warm up. No matter what he does, he always finds himself huddled into himself, the cold sticking to his skin and making the room itself freezing.

" _It's probably another ghost power."_ Sam had guessed one night, while she and Tucker were tending to his wounds, and pretending like they weren't shivering in his presence. _"Isn't it a thing where if a ghost is nearby, the room will feel colder?"_

But it wasn't like that – no it was far _more_ than that. Well, it was true. Whenever a ghost was nearby the room always felt colder and a familiar chill would run up his back. But _this_ wasn't just making the room cold. He _felt cold_.

He _was_ the cold.

It was quickly getting to the point where his parents were starting to notice. Offhandedly mentioning how cold the room was starting to get whenever he would sit down for breakfast. Noticing how cold his skin was to the touch, how he was shivering even though it was warm as hell outside.

It was worse in school. Every time he would doze off in class from one or two late nights fighting ghosts Sam or Tucker would have to nudge him awake because the room got noticeably colder.

The last straw was when he woke up in the middle of the night, his body forced awake from how violently he was shivering. When he looked around his room, his jaw went slack in horror. It was completely covered in a sheet of ice, already starting to disappear now that he was awake.

Almost immediately, guilt and anxiety stabbed through his chest. What if the ice travelled further than his room? To around the house? What if his parents had woken up to check on him and saw all the ice?

He had to go. This was obviously some new power that was quickly spiraling out of his control.

His body still shivering, he switched into his ghost form, where the cold was a bit more tolerable. He slipped downstairs and to the portal, opening it and taking a deep breath. He glanced back before heading right into the ghost zone.

 _Where can I go_?

He mostly just wandered around for a while – the cold his body was permeating was getting slowly easier to manage. Every once in a while, he would stop to rest on one of the floating islands. But usually he was shooed off by some other ghost who had already made the place their home.

Loneliness came quickly.

Finally, after some time, he found a small island that no one else seemed to already be living on. (Was the right word "living" if everyone here were ghosts?)

Though, as soon as he touched down, ice and snow began to quickly cover the island – oh no, his powers were getting far out of control. It _was_ a good thing that he had left.

With a deep breath, he began to make the place his home. Who knew how long he would be here, learning how to use his powers?

He tried to get used to it. He would spend his days in loneliness and pure ice.


	3. Animals

**Day 3: Animals/Fangs**

 **Summary: Sam is given an assignment for her class in ghost study. She ends up finding a ghost cat. But she's not getting attached to it, of _course_ not. **

* * *

Sam didn't really want a pet.

She never did – she never saw the need for one. Her parents were probably the reason, being such _morning_ people and so…upbeat about _everything_. They always talked about having a dog or some other small animal to dote on. So, by time she was a teenager she connected pets with her parents. And being a teenager with heavily controlling and oppressive parents it was easy to decide to never have a pet.

It was like having a kid – they kept bothering her about having one and her personal preference was a huge _no_.

Besides, wasn't adopting a cat or a dog the same as taking care of a child? Why the hell would she do _that_?

The thought of animals didn't pass her mind very often over the years. Sure, going to college and being away from her parents did _help_ those ingrained issues, but it wasn't something that came up _all the time._ In fact, most of her time was spent studying ghosts – amazingly enough. Perhaps being around Danny so much and getting to know Valerie over time really helped this new fascination.

Luckily, colleges nearby Amity Park were slowly starting to integrate the study of ghosts into their majors. It was a strange line between actual facts and complete and utter _bullshit._ There were times where Sam has screamed in annoyance because things she's learned from _experience_ the _professors_ have _absolutely no clue about_.

So, it's a huge uphill battle.

For her most recent assignment, it was a project (worth 30% of her grade, she was bitter to add) in which they needed to find a ghost to "study" for a few weeks, and write a report on them. Their habits, their weaknesses, their obsessions, etc.

As a joke, Sam _thought_ of calling up Danny for help – but thought again. He's too busy to help her with this assignment. And besides, wasn't she a key member of Team Phantom? She was practically a ghost hunter, it couldn't be _hard_ to find a ghost to stalk for a couple weeks.

And that is how she ended up here, standing in a graveyard staring at a black cat glowing a familiar toxic green.

Now, again, she didn't really want a pet. She never wanted one and never will. But she _needed_ to pass this assignment.

"Uh…here…kitty, kitty?" She beckoned the cat, making some of those noises she's heard people make at strays. (Is that how it worked? She wasn't sure.)

The cat stared at her, seeming extremely unimpressed or incredibly amused.

She sighed and sat on one of the tombstones, keeping a close eye on the cat.

A few days passed. Nothing much happened.

The cat seemed to enjoy the graveyard, she got that much. It always moved from tombstone to tombstone so she figured it wasn't haunting around, looking for its owner. No, she _hypothesized_ (quite the word, but she had to use it for her professor to accept it) that it was merely a stray whose home was the graveyard, and it just didn't realize it was dead yet. A little tragic, but Danny's told her there's a bunch of people and animals who are apparently like that (memory can get a little skewed when you're a ghost; Sam still remembers the early days where Danny would act _odd_ in ghost form and not remember what he did at all afterwards).

But as the days passed the cat seemed to get used to her presence. As it wandered, it went near her, sniffing her before walking away. Sam figured it was a good sign.

By the time a week passed, the cat jumped into her lap.

And she found herself petting it.

No, not because she was getting _attached_. Nope, she just…found the cat enjoyable. Besides, it was always looking up at her with six eyes that she couldn't say no to.

Another few days passed. She named her Asteria.

Two weeks passed and she noticed Asteria was leading her near one of the tombstones fairly often. She researched the name and found an article about a woman who was rumored to be a witch some time ago. Maybe she was this cat's owner? No wonder the little one became a ghost.

She mentioned the cat to Danny and Tucker some point during the third and last week. They teased her because only _she_ would pick up a stray ghost cat. She merely scoffed and waved it off. She hadn't _picked up the stray_ she was merely _watching it._

The next day Asteria followed her back to her dorm.

It was… _hard_ to explain to her panicking roommate that the cat wouldn't be harming them at all. At worst, the small animal would be staring at them while they slept. At best, scaring off any small rodents that the dorm might attract. In the end, she agreed that as long as the cat did not bother her, she did not mind.

The third week, while she was finishing her report, the cat _talked._

" _You're wrong. I wasn't the familiar."_ She said in a soft, echoing voice, making Sam tense up. The cat merely licked her paw as she seemed to read over her shoulder. _"I was the witch you researched into. I thought you knew by now."_

"Y-You… _what_?"

She giggled. _"You thought I was a regular cat? Silly human."_ She patted her cheek with her paw. _"I'm dead, of course there was something odd about me, don't you think?"_

"I have a friend who's _half_ dead so…" She stared at the cat – witch – whatever – and sighed. "How…did you become a _cat_ ghost then?"

She did a shrugging motion. _"I dunno. I guess my sins came back to…_ _haunt_ _me."_ She giggled a bit louder and Sam groaned.

"…of course, I would pick up a cat ghost who likes _puns_. I have a friend who you'll get along with."

" _Oh? That's great! Also, the year is wrong. And I don't like that picture – it's not at a good angle."_

Sam, once again, wondered how she got here. She may _like_ animals, but she never wanted a pet, much less a sassy familiar.

Oh well. Things never go how you expect, do they?


	4. Coffee

**Sorry I skipped to today's prompt but, well, I took a mental break and then I got _very lazy._ I should be back on track now though, hopefully.**

 **Day 9: _Coffee_ /Breakfast**

 **Summary: Danny has a new taste for coffee and Maddie is worried aka, how Maddie finds out her son is dead.**

* * *

Maddie Fenton was no fool. She was a scientist. She was a ghost hunter. She was a wife. She was a mother. But a fool? Oh no, you had the wrong woman.

And yes, she loves her children – _unconditionally_ in fact. She would never claim to be the _perfect_ mother, but who was? Maybe she _could_ spend a little more time with her children and less in the lab but they were getting a little too old for her doting either way. Jazz practically saw herself as a fully grown adult and Danny…had changed.

Gone was her cheerful child, always ready to learn and would always talk to her about _anything_. Practically overnight he became a near troublemaker – sneaking out, staying out late, being secretive, dropping drastically in grades, getting noticeably depressed and…he began drinking _coffee_.

They didn't really have any specific rules in the house about the beverage. No, Jazz would drink some whenever finals were nearing ("It's not exactly an all - nighter if I sleep at _least_ four hours, mom.") and Jack would crave his with plenty of sugar when he's sure he's had a breakthrough ("Just one more cup, Maddie! I'm sure I'm getting close!") but it was mostly _her_ drink. She'd have some every morning before heading down to the lab. Before whatever happened to Danny, she would make a coup for herself and watch as Danny would wrinkle his nose in that cute way that made him look 10 years younger before pouring himself some cereal.

But now, she found her coffee dwindling faster than usual and for a week she suspected it was Jazz or Jack but, to her surprise…it was Danny.

Danny had begun brewing himself a cup of coffee in the morning, hardly able to keep his eyes open as he downed at least two cups. She'd stare, her mind running in circles as she tried to decipher this new behavior. A sudden difference in taste buds? Among these other new 180 behaviors that appeared as well? It was far too suspicious to just ignore.

She tried asking Jazz if she had any idea what was happening with her brother but she offered no new information. She only talked circles about how Danny is a teenager getting used to high school and the _environment_ and _rampant hormones_ could be why he had such a sudden flip.

Now, it's not that Maddie didn't _trust_ her daughter, but she knew her children was enough to see when someone was lying. Or at least, keeping a part of the truth from her.

So not only was Danny's friends in this whole secret, Jazz was as well.

And that, of course, meant taking matters into her own hands.

It took time, she'll shamefully admit, to make a small tracker that _wasn't_ ghost related. She tried not to think of how wrong it is, as a mother, for her to _track_ her own child (he wasn't a ghost she was hunting after all!). But it wasn't necessarily as if she could just _follow_ him that easily.

(She should know. She's tried.)

She had no clue if Danny was sneaking out every night or once in a while but beggars couldn't be choosers. In the morning, she made both her and Danny a cup of coffee and slipped the tracker in his cup. He hardly even looked in it when he gulped it down like it was his last drink. 'Thank _god_ he hadn't found the tracker.

Now, if it worked, it would attach to the inside of his throat painlessly and stay there for about 60 hours. (She tried it on herself – it was somewhat like taking a pill). Since it was still in beta, there was some complications – worst was a sore throat ( _Sorry sweetie_ She thought to herself when Danny let out a couple small coughs and rubbed his throat with a grimace). But Danny _should_ be fine.

And as she hoped, the tracker was active that night as soon as he left the house. She hardly hesitated, putting on her jumpsuit and slipping her Fenton Ecto-Handgun (you never know when you'll run into ghosts) into her belt before following her son.

She couldn't see him on the street but, somehow, he was going _fast_. Fast enough that she wondered if he had gotten into a car. But that couldn't be _possible._ Especially since the tracker was telling her he was _on the rooftops_.

Unless Jack had made a small flying car and hadn't told her, this was just getting fishier by the minute.

Then she saw him.

 _Phantom_.

And he was right where _Danny's_ tracker was pointing.

But how? _Danny_ had taken the tracker and it was not _Phantom_ at the table that morning.

…was it? She wasn't sure anymore. After all, it seemed her son did take a liking to Phantom (she expected it was due to a whole teen phase since all the teenagers seemed to like Phantom) and Phantom _did_ look miraculously similar to her son…but she always thought that was just to make himself look more human.

Now, it seemed those hypotheses were going right out the window.

She followed Phantom (probably Danny?) to an old building where she knew a lot of ghost activity tended to congregate. What was he doing there? Was she about to uncover some wild plot the ghost child was surely cooking up?

…no. No, she wasn't.

In fact, instead of _that,_ he was meeting with Sam and Tucker.

From her hiding spot, she couldn't exactly hear what they were saying but too many clues were piling up and clicking together.

Then she saw Phantom change into her son, and she couldn't take anymore.

She went home.

All she knew was that tomorrow morning she's gonna need a big cup of coffee.


End file.
